This page is dedicated to all my girls
and especially Big Girl (who I nursed back to healthafter her
adoption), who have gone on to a better fish bowl. I miss you all
girls.

Hi! My name is Oscette, (Little Oscar). Well,
really it is not, it's Carole, but because I wear a custom fish
avatar, designed by my good friend SassyCat and I raise Oscars
(the tropical fish), my friends thought the name was a good fit.
I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was raised in
Weatherly, Pennsylvania and moved to Hazleton, Pennsylvania at 19
and I live here since then. Beside my 3 Oscars, which are
girls, I have an iguana. And my hubby BigC, who I have
been married to for the last 15 years. I have finally mastered
most of the HTML so I could write this board myself and had a
great time doing it. I spend a lot of time on the computer in
Worlds Chat, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger. I have 7 other web pages
that I'm webmaster over. I thought maybe some people would like to see my
girls and I would like to exchange some information with some fellow Oscar
lovers. This page is constantly changing, so come back often.

Hope You Like My Page!

What Is An
"Oscar"?

Oscar is the common name for one of the
South American Cichlid Classes of tropical fish known as
Astronotus Ocellatus. Sometimes called "The Velvet
Cichlid" or "The Peacock Cichlid". Easier to say "Oscar"! Oscars are native
to northern South America and off the southern coast of Florida.
Oscars come in various colors. There are red Oscars, Gold Oscars,
Albino Oscars, Gold Tiger Oscars, Common Oscars and various
Oscars not known to me. Oscars, if raised in the proper
environment can grow to a size of 12 inches and can live as long
as 10 years. They have a personality, that is to say when other
fish dash around, the Oscar explores. They can be taught tricks
as a dog can. If you put a small floating ball in the Oscar's
tank, he can be taught to push the ball around the tank. An Oscar
can be tempramental fish, bullying other small fish in the tank
and demanding it's own territory. But as the Oscar matures, some, not all of the aggressiveness
diminishes. Oscars can be fed a
variety of foods, from small breeder goldfish and tubflex worms
to regular chiclid pellets and flake food. Because of the danger
of a contaminated goldfish which might have been raised under
adverse conditions and cause the Oscar to have "hole in the
head disease", I would prefer to feed my girls pellet food
and flake food. Each owners has their own preference. They are in
my opinion, definitely a beautiful fish to own and watch.

Sometimes
children as well as adults buy Oscars without realizing how big
they can grow or understand their needs as adults. Many of their
bowls become contaminated by their waste and food waste and they
become sick and die. Many times their owners can no longer take
care of them or no longer want to take care of them. Sadly some
of these fish end up disposed of, but many of them end back at
the pet store from where they were bought. This was the case of
two of my girls-- Seedy and Big Girl. Big Girl's tank mate was so
sick, it didn't even make it into the clean bowl at the pet
store. I've adopted many Oscars like this and took them home, to find out they
were sick. Some I could nurse back to health and some I couldn't. Many fish like these can be found at your local pet store.
Next time you're in your local pet store, maybe you'll see one of
these abandoned fish and if you like big fish, particularly
Oscars, take a chance, you could raise a really nice fish. Give an Oscar a good home.Adopt An Oscar today!

Wal-mart

I have an
interesting piece of information that I would like to pass on. This past
weekend I was in our local Wal-mart. I wondered into the fish section and I
found a bowl full of Oscars. It was a 10 gallon tank with about 20 small
Oscars in it. They were fighting with each other terribly. In the
bottom of the tank was a little albino/tiger girl. She had her one eye
knocked out, and just sitting on the bottom. When the girl came over I
mentioned that they looked like they were hungry. She said she knew
nothing about them, as she worked other departments as well. She opened a
flake container and put some in the top. I thought they were going to tear
the container out of her hand. At that point I opened up a container of
Wardley Chiclid Sticks (which I was going to purchase) and she opened the top.
It was a mad rush, they were trying to pull the sticks out of each other's mouths.
I made reference to the little girl in the bottom. She asked me what would
happen to her. I told her I was going to buy her. That would make
the third girl I have that is blind in the left eye. She got the
net, put her in the bag and sat the bag in the sink that was there. The bag fell
over and she was in the sink. I was polite, so I didn't say anything.
When she gave me the bag with her in she handed me a paper about an inch high
and about three inches long. It "information" about my fish. It said
"South African Chiclid, grows to about 3 to 4 inches long." I almost died
when I saw that and never read the rest, that was enough for me. Somehow I
misplaced the paper I wanted to scan it to here. But you can see how
stores like Wal-mart and others misstate the facts about these fish.
As for the little girl she is in the 25 high tank, hopefully she will adapt.
So far she just sits on the bottom. I'm sorry to say the little girl passed away
about 10 pm this evening 4/22/03.

I
happened to be in Wal-Mart today (7/19/03) to buy some sticks for my girls as
their usual pet store was closed. As I went over to the sticks, I couldn't
help seeing all of the Oscars in a tank that wasn't even 10 gallons. I
counted 15, from about an inch to one that was about 3 inches long. They were
all taking turns attacking a dead one of their friends on the bottom. I
opened the can of sticks and just like before, I gave them some. It was
like the mad rush at the soup kitchen. Just about then a Wal-Mart worker
came around the corner. He asked me if I wanted any fish. I told him if I
had my way I would take all of them. I asked him if he could see what they
were doing. I explained they were a territorial fish and they probably
killed one of the little weaker ones and were now eating it. I told him
that was a good way for the whole tank to get hole in the head disease.
When he saw I was giving them sticks he asked if they were their food I replied
with "Don't worry I'm paying for them". I also told them several of us on
the Internet were filing a petition against all Wal-Mart stores for their
inhumane treatment of the fish. He said the guy who runs the department
takes good care of the tanks. I then asked him if he was the guy who
couldn't find the net, so he was going to take a fish out in his hands. He
said I don't know anythingabout that and walked
away. I MUST stay out of that place or get in serious trouble.

Below is a petition
against Wal-Mart charging them with cruelty to the fish. Please if you feel this
is the case, don't hesitate to sign it. Thanx "Oscette"

Check out
your new fish tank when you purchase it. I just bought Stripper a new 55 gallon
tank, as she was getting too big for her old 29. I did everything I usually do
when starting up a new bowl. I do nothing fancy with my tanks, only add Start
Right to the water as it's adding. (I never fool with sitting the water out or
anything like that, and my girls have grown to almost a foot in size.) After a
few days I noticed that her water was getting cloudy and green. Knew she
was building up algae, but I couldn't understand why. She wasn't in direct
sunlight and she wasn't getting a lot of seed, it didn't make sense. (I leave on
my tank lights 24/7. My girls were raised like that and if I turn the light out
or it burns out they go nuts.) Then something told me to check the light because
I had remembered I had a problem like that before. AGA (All-Glass Aquariums),
who I buy all of my tanks from had packaged another kind of light with the tank
assembly. It was a GE Aqua Rays. Somehow the spectrum was different then any
they had shipped before and combined with the light on all the time created such
algae that I could hardly see her through the glass. I changed the light to a
Penn Plex, which I always use and did a lot of water changes and now she's
clear. So be careful of your tank assemblies when you buy them even if turn your
light out at night. It could still cause an algae problem.

Sick Oscars!

I've been
getting quite a lot of letters concerning sick Oscars. I want you all to
understand that I am not a Veterinarian or a fish doctor, the advice I offer
comes from experience and if there is something I have no knowledge of, then I
will consult someone who knows. I feel bad when I'm trying to give advice
to someone and their Oscar gets worse or passes away, as in the incident that
happened today. All I can do is I try my best, but you should also check
with a Vet.

People are asking me what
kind of medicine do I use for the treatment of various diseases, such as ich,
cotton mouth and all sorts of scrapes and cuts. I'm not here to promote any one
particular company, but I am a firm believer in Aquatronics Paragon.
The one in the Red package, not the blue. I believe that the blue package is too
strong for them. If you read the directions on the package and follow the
directions in five days you should see a noticeable improvement. I have used
this faithfully to treat all of my girls at one time or another and it works.
They also make a medicine called Super Sulfa, that is really terrific when their
is a very bad infection. Make sure you have your dosage correct, because a lot
of medicines cut down on the amount of oxygen in the water and could make your
Oscar pant for air

Hole In
The Head Disease

I am
questioned all the time about "Hole In The Head" Disease. I have been
doing some research on it and so far I have found some things I can put in
here now. Hexamita is a single-cell protozoa, or as some people call it, a
single-cell parasite that is usually intestinal in nature, but have the
capability of penetrating the intestinal wall and spreading to other organs.
In certain species like the Oscar, Discus, and Jack Dempsey they attack the head
region causing tubular eruptions and holes, thus "Hole In The Head" Disease.
I read on an aquarium board that this disease is fatal. I don't believe
that to be true, because I had treated one of my girls for it and the holes
healed up and she lived a long time after that. I'm not sure where they
come from, but I was always told not to feed my girls live feeder fish, because
it could cause the disease. As I find out more on the cause I will post it
here. I read on someone's board to slow them down or possibly stop them,
put 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt in the bowl. This can be common
table salt. (NOT IODIZED!!) Every Friday when I clean the bowls, I
sprinkle salt in them, the girls eat it as it is coming in. I was also
taught this will promote healing and I believe it does. Again my old
faithful product for Hole In The Head is Paragon. Other people would tell
you other products. I find this very successful.

Ammonia!

I caution
everyone to clean your tanks on a regular basis. At least once every two
weeks, if not every week. The buildup of food and
waste products in the tank can cause a massive buildup ammonia in the tank, which can cause the depletion of oxygen and your Oscar could starve for air..

Show Me
Your Oscar

I was answering an email from a fellow Oscar friend in Mexico
about his Oscar. He had sent me some pics of her so I could see what she
looked like, when I came upon a great idea. Why not send in pics of your
favorite Oscar and I can display them on a page for everyone else to see.

Send
me a pic of your favorite Oscar and I will display them here for everyone to
see.